BURKINA FASO -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE

UNCLAS STATE 060539 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG UV SUBJECT: BURKINA FASO -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND DEMARCHE REF: A. (A) STATE 59732 ¶B. (B) STATE 005577 ¶1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10. ¶2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a press conference in the Department's press briefing room. This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic and foreign news outlets. Until the time of the Secretary's June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or country narratives contained therein is prohibited. ¶3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter. Also provided is demarche language to be used in informing the Government of Burkina Faso of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent release. The text of the TIP Report country narrative is provided, both for use in informing the Government of Burkina Faso and in any local media release by Post's public affairs section on June 16 or thereafter. Drawing on information provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide the host government with the text of the TIP Report narrative no earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts. Please note, however, that any public release of the Report's information should not/not precede the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16. ¶4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16 release. Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts in all countries appearing on the Report. The Secretary's statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website shortly after the June 16 event. Ambassador de Baca will also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. ¶5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform the appropriate official in the Government of Burkina Faso of the June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of the country narrative provided in para 8. For countries where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it is particularly important to advise governments prior to the Report being released in Washington on June 16. ¶6. Action Request continued: Please note that, for those countries which will not receive an "action plan" with specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw host governments' attention to the areas for improvement identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the "Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the narrative text. This engagement is important to establishing the framework in which the government's performance will be judged for the 2010 Report. If posts have questions about which governments will receive an action plan, or how they may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report, please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau. ¶7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the press guidance provided in para 11. If Post wishes, a local press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June 16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP Report's country narrative provided in para 8. ¶8. Begin Final Text of Burkina Faso,s country narrative in the 2009 TIP Report: -------------- Burkina Faso (Tier 2) -------------- Burkina Faso is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Most victims are children, trafficked within the country from rural areas to urban centers such as Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and forced labor in gold mines and stone quarries, and the agriculture sector. Burkinab children are also trafficked for the same purposes to other West African countries, most notably to Cte d,Ivoire, where many are subjected to forced agricultural labor, including on cocoa farms. Children are also trafficked from Burkina Faso to Mali, Benin, Nigeria, Niger and Togo, and Ghana. Burkinab children are also trafficked to Mali for forced begging by religious teachers. In the past year, children were also trafficked from Burkina Faso to Sudan. Children from these West African countries are trafficked to Burkina Faso for the same purposes listed above. To a lesser extent, Burkina Faso is a source country for women lured to Europe with promises of jobs as maids, but who are forced into prostitution after arrival. Women from Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana, and Niger reportedly are trafficked to Burkina Faso for forced labor in bars or for commercial sexual exploitation. The Government of Burkina Faso does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. Burkina Faso,s law enforcement efforts improved with the passage of legislation prohibiting all forms of trafficking that supersedes a prior law that criminalized only child trafficking. The government also investigated and prosecuted an increased number of trafficking offenders, though sentences imposed on convicted traffickers remained low. Protection efforts remained solid. Recommendations for Burkina Faso: Increase penalties imposed on convicted trafficking offenders; train police and government social workers to identify trafficking victims among women in prostitution; ensure that sex trafficking victims are not penalized under anti-prostitution laws; and increase efforts to raise awareness about trafficking. Prosecution -------------- The Government of Burkina Faso increased its law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking over the last year. In May 2008, the government passed Law 029-2008 on Combating Trafficking in Persons and Related Practices that prohibits all forms of trafficking and prescribes sentences of five years, to life imprisonment for those convicted of trafficking offenses. These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for rape. This law supersedes the nation,s 2003 Law No. 038-2003 concerning the Definition of Child Trafficking which criminalized child trafficking and prescribed a maximum penalty of 10 years, imprisonment. Burkina Faso,s Penal Affairs Officer reported that in 2008, the government arrested 40 child trafficking suspects, 16 of whom were cleared of all charges and released, and 11 of whom were prosecuted, convicted, and given sentences of one to twelve months, imprisonment. Five of these traffickers were given sentences of far less than one years, imprisonment. Four traffickers received sentences of six months which the court considered completed at the time of sentencing due to lengthy pre-trial detention since 2007. An additional thirteen suspects are awaiting trial. The government collaborated with international donors and NGOs to conduct anti-trafficking training for 165 lawyers, magistrates, security personnel, social workers, civil society activists, and local vigilance committee members throughout the country. Protection -------------- The Government of Burkina Faso demonstrated solid efforts to protect trafficking victims over the last year. Due to limited resources, the government did not provide services directly to victims. When government authorities identified victims, however, they ensured that they received access to necessary services by referring them to NGOs and international organizations. The Burkinab government reported that between January and December 2008, its security forces and regional anti-trafficking surveillance committees intercepted approximately 691 Burkinab and foreign child trafficking victims, 438 of whom were boys and 153 of whom were girls. Two hundred forty-five of these children were being trafficked from Burkina Faso to neighboring West African countries, while three of these were being trafficked to Sudan. The remaining children were victims of internal trafficking within Burkina Faso. All of these children received care at one of 23 transit centers jointly funded by the government and UNICEF. In 2008, the government contributed over $54,000 to these centers. Assisted by donor-funding, government personnel helped to supervise the rehabilitation of 190 trafficking victims and helped to provide their families with micro-credit programs. After victims receive care at transit centers, the government coordinates the repatriation of foreign nationals with counterparts in the victims, countries of origin, processes these victims, travel documents, and collaborates with donors to ensure a safe return. Burkina Faso is a party to the ECOWAS-ECCAS 2006 anti-trafficking agreement and plan of action, through which officials in Burkina Faso in 2008 cooperated with counterparts in nearby countries to intercept and repatriate 248 West African child trafficking victims, including 51 girls. Police do not exhibit any systematic effort to identify trafficking victims among women and girls in prostitution. The government does not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they face hardship or retribution. Nationals of ECOWAS states, including trafficking victims, however, may legally reside and work in Burkina Faso. Government officials encourage victims to assist in trafficking investigations or prosecutions. Prevention -------------- The Government of Burkina Faso continued trafficking prevention efforts over the last year. Government-operated media broadcast anti-trafficking and child labor radio and television programs, films, theater, and debates, often in collaboration with NGOs and reportedly targeting over 300,000 people during the year. In collaboration with NGOs and international organizations, the government held workshops and seminars for civil society groups and government officials on child trafficking, primarily on prevention, protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration. The government made a financial contribution to these workshops. The national action plan against trafficking, which the government adopted in 2007, has yet to be implemented due to lack of funding. In the last year, the National Anti-trafficking Committee met twice. The government made no discernable efforts to reduce demand for forced and child labor in the country. The government took some steps to reduce demand for commercial sex acts in Burkina Faso by closing a number of brothels in Ouagadougou in July 2008. ¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report country narrative: (begin non-paper) -- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to Congress. The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and create partnerships around the world in the fight against modern-day slavery. The USG approach to combating human trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol"). The TVPA and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, or coercion, whether overt or through psychological manipulation. While much attention has focused on international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a showing that the victim was moved. -- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009 TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin, transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of three tiers. Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking" set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1. Countries assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, but making significant efforts to meet those minimum standards are classified as Tier 2. Countries assessed as neither complying with the minimum standards nor making significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3. -- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a "Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year. Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of each year. Countries are included on the "Special Watch List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. -- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined: (1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim population. As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008 contains a provision requiring that a country that has been included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier ¶3. Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to Tier 3 in the 2011 Report). The new law allows for a waiver of this provision for up to two additional years upon a determination by the President that the country has developed and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards. -- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for participation by government officials or employees in educational and cultural exchange programs. In addition, the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to international financial institutions to oppose loans or other utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, trade-related or certain types of development assistance) with respect to countries on Tier 3. Countries classified as Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's release to show significant efforts against trafficking in persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier classification, would avoid such sanctions. Guidelines for such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared by Posts with host governments. -- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon: fraudulent recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor. As the May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion. The current global financial crisis threatens to increase the number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated "cost of coercion." -- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on website www.state.gov/g/tip. -- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State Department. We are providing you an advance copy of your country's narrative in that report. Please keep this information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June ¶16. The State Department will also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. (end non-paper) ¶10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as possible after the TIP Report is released. Funding for translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human Rights Report. Posts needing financial assistance for translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX office. ¶11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use with local media. Q1: Why is Burkina Faso on Tier 2? A: The Government of Burkina Faso does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. Burkina Faso,s law enforcement efforts improved with the passage of legislation prohibiting all forms of trafficking that supersedes a prior law that criminalized only child trafficking. The government also investigated and prosecuted an increased number of trafficking offenders, though sentences imposed on convicted traffickers remained low. Burkna Faso,s victim protection efforts during the last year remained solid. Q2: What progress has Burkina Faso made in the past year? A: The Government of Burkina Faso increased its law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking over the last year. In May 2008, the government passed Law 029-2008 on Combating Trafficking in Persons and Related Practices that prohibits all forms of trafficking and prescribes sentences of five years, to life imprisonment for those convicted of trafficking offenses. These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for rape. This law supersedes the nation,s 2003 Law No. 038-2003 concerning the Definition of Child Trafficking which criminalized child trafficking and prescribed a maximum penalty of ten years, imprisonment. Burkina Faso,s Penal Affairs Officer reported that in 2008, the government arrested 40 child trafficking suspects, 11 of whom were prosecuted and convicted. The Government of Burkina Faso demonstrated solid efforts to protect trafficking victims over the last year. The Burkinab government reported that between January and December 2008, its security forces and regional anti-trafficking surveillance committees intercepted approximately 691 Burkinab and foreign child trafficking victims, 438 of whom were boys and 153 of whom were girls. Q3: What can Burkina Faso do to further the fight against modern slavery? A: Increase penalties imposed on convicted trafficking offenders; train police and government social workers to identify trafficking victims among women in prostitution; ensure that sex trafficking victims are not penalized under anti-prostitution laws; and increase efforts to raise awareness about trafficking. ¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the preceding action requests. CLINTON